always vulgar and often convincing
by Caliente
Summary: one-shot ficlet set during New Mutants v1 –– Dani happens upon Sam watching some questionable television late one night. –– FanFic100 #37: Sound ;ALPHABET MEME: X is for X-Rated


**Author's Note: **For Stacey who requested Dani&Sam with the prompt x-rated for the alphabet meme. This takes place during the early-to-middle days of New Mutants v1 when the New Mutants and X-Men were both living at the X-Mansion. It's unbeta'd, so if there are mistakes, please let me know! Cheers.  
**Disclaimer:** Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc. I do not own them and am simply borrowing for my purposes. And the title is from a quote by Oscar Wilde, which is also not mine. Please don't sue.

**always vulgar and often convincing  
**by Bether

It was the middle of the night when Dani snuck downstairs. She was having trouble sleeping and thought maybe some warm milk (and, okay, a few of the cookies that'd been made earlier that evening) would help. And, while she didn't anticipate getting into trouble over something so innocuous, it _was_ past curfew and she had classes in the morning.

She was soon distracted, though, by muffled sounds emanating from the rec room. Tiptoeing over to where the entrance had been shut for the evening, she could see the faint glow of the television through the crack between the doors and the floor. Curious—who would be up at this hour? it was nearly four am! (and Wolverine wasn't here)—Dani eased opened one of the doors and poked her head inside.

Nothing (no seriously, _nothing_) prepared her for what she saw, though.

Sitting on the couch with his eyes glued to the television was none other than Sam Guthrie. That alone wasn't noteworthy but what was on the screen? _That_ had her jaw on the floor. It was some sort of—well, actually, Dani wasn't sure _what _she was seeing! There were two women and one was topless and the other was touching her and just—

"Sam!" Dani hissed, stepping into the room and pulling the door mostly closed behind her. "What are you _doing?_"

The blond was obviously startled, jumping a foot in his seat and then whirling around to face her. "Dani! I, er—it's not what it looks like."

Hands on her hips, Dani raised one brow. "Oh? So you're _not_ watching some sort of-of _porno?_"

Even in the dimly lit room, she could tell he was blushing. "I swear, the film's on HBO! And it was called _SpiderBabe_—I thought it'd be some kind of, y'know, weird cable film based on Spider-Man or somethin'."

Snatching the remote, Dani flipped to the TV Guide channel and saw (after a few minutes of shows scrolling) that he wasn't lying. Still—"Well, why didn't you change it when it came on?"

"I was curious," Sam admitted, head hanging.

Dani tossed the remote back onto the couch and, of course, somehow the return button was hit and the strange pornish film was back on. Thankfully, though, everyone was clothed in this scene.

"You better shut it off," she told him after a moment of startled silence. "You could get in real trouble."

Sam glanced at her. "You mean _we_ could."

Dani's jaw dropped. "Hey! I didn't do anything!"

"Well, neither did I!" he returned defensively. "Not on purpose."

Waving her hands in a somewhat agitated manner, Dani shook her head. "Okay, fine, whatever. Just turn it off before we get caught!"

Sam picked up the remote and did just that.

Sufficiently satisfied, Dani let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

That's when Sam looked at her—at least, she thought he did. The room was really dark now. "What're you doing down here, anyway, Chief?"

It was Dani's turn to be defensive: "I couldn't sleep. I thought some warm milk might help—but then I heard the television and saw some lights, and I was curious."

"Shocking," Sam drawled sardonically.

Dani smacked his shoulder and made toward the door. "You wanna come with? I was gonna warm up some cookies, too…"

Sam followed behind her. "Sure. Someone's gotta make sure you don't try t'sneak back and watch more dirty television."

Snorting, she smacked him again. "As if! You were the one watching! I was just an innocent bystander."

"Maybe." Sam mussed her hair with one hand. "Maybe not."

Dani swatted his hand away as they entered the kitchen. "Shut up, perv."

Sam laughed quietly letting the door swing shut behind them and flipping on one of the lights. "Yes, _bossy_."

Huffing and blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted, Dani set about making her midnight snack—for two. She was nice like that. (And, okay, it'd give her the opportunity to tease him a little more. She liked doing that; his ears turned bright red when he was embarrassed. It was funny.)


End file.
